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Given the source of the summons, Shu is unsurprised when it brings her to the seaside.
She’s not familiar enough with the human world to discern much more than that as she delicately touches down on the grassy cliff that overlooks the expansive waters, but Kanata should know— once she locates where it is that he’s scurried off to.
There’s no sign of her friend after her first pass over the nearby scenery, though a strange shift of the light by a deep crack in the face of the cliff does catch her eye. When she turns to face it, the air shimmers a poisonous green, revealing a familiar face peering out at her from the dissipating motes of a concealment spell.
“Shu-neesan, did he send for you too?” Natsume asks. Her vulpine ears and tail remain hidden as she manifests fully into view, making her seem like a relatively normal human girl, if one ignores the bewitching golden glow of her gaze.
“Would I ever deign to leave my realm and come to such a place had he not?” Shu sighs, stepping carefully over the uneven ground to close the distance between them. “Not that his message gave any indication why my presence was necessary.”
Since the great war, Shu knows she’s begun to cultivate the reputation of a shut-in. The gossip of the masses hardly bothers her, especially when she knows that should the occasion truly call for it, she’s perfectly capable of leaving her territory— at the behest of a dear friend, for instance.
“It wasn’t very coherent, no,” Natsume frowns. “Do you think he called upon Wataru-niisan and Rei-niisan as well?”
“We’ll know soon if he did.” She says. With Natsume no longer trying to hide, the aura of magic should have faded from the area, but the scent of it still lingers heavy in the air. She reaches out a hand, delicately brushing her fingertips over the rock, watching with little surprise when it trembles and shakes as if alive. “Is this what you were looking at?”
Natsume nods, turning her attention to the curious reaction. “Yes. I think it’s a gate of some kind, with a little more effort it should be easy to—”
Shu doesn’t wait for her to finish, sending out a burst of energy that reverberates through the earth. The crack in the rock shoots out, growing exponentially in size, its tendrils snaking in all directions before the cliff itself begins to split open, revealing a narrow passageway leading downward into the salt-heavy dark.
“I was about to do that,” Natsume says, very much pouting with her arms folded across her chest. “Should we go take a look? It might be better for Shu-neesan to stay up here, in case someone else arrives late.”
“Where did you learn to be so reckless? If Kanata is in danger, the threat will be too grave for a brat like you to handle on your own.” With a flick of her wrist Shu sets a ward high in the air, a faintly glowing image of her family’s crest cloaked in reams of delicately spun magic to hide it from any human eyes.
“Shu-neesan’s always so thorough,” Natsume huffs. “Shall we?”
She clearly lacks all of the apprehension that sits coiled around Shu’s shoulders like a viper waiting to strike, turning to begin her descent before Shu even has the time to respond properly. Such brazen foolishness— the result of the many years Rei and Wataru have spent spoiling her rotten, going to great lengths to keep her sequestered away from the ugly politicking and power struggles of the other yokai lords, to be sure.
Shu can only sigh and shake her head, giving one more cursory glance at the surrounding landscape for anything suspicious she may have missed before alighting down the unevenly hewn steps herself, guided by the firefly-colored flames Natsume conjures as she goes.
The path is steep and winding, continuing for such a length that Shu suspects that it must end at a comparable level to the shoreline. The cool air from their breezy cliffside landing spot gives way to warm, almost humid climes the further down they go, which tickles some long-forgotten memory tucked far away in the back of Shu’s mind, an anecdote from Kanata that she can’t quite recall. They’ve spoken a few times of the sites where humans flock to worship him, a practice her own clan abandoned generations ago. If the current situation is at all related, it could mean trouble, but Shu sets the possibility to the side, determined not to give in to anxiety before she knows the extent of what they’ve been called to deal with.
When the stairs finally do end, Shu assumes for a moment that Natsume’s called up more fire to lighten the chamber ahead, at least until she joins the younger girl on the last roughly hewn step. Instead of more dancing flames, she realizes that the glow in the grotto is coming from the water itself, a warm ambient light that allows them to clearly see the seaweed-covered platform the staircase leads out to. It illuminates the fragrant moss growing on the walls and ceiling of the cave, the abundant plant life in the water, and figure floating face down at the edge of the far end—
“Kanta-niisan!” Natsume notices him the same moment Shu does, immediately taking off to his side.
“Be careful, girl, we don’t know what else is in here.” Shu hisses, crossing warily over the slick floor at a more gradual pace to where Natsume’s already kneeling by the water and begun to haul Kanata’s motionless body up onto the land. There are a million possible traps they could be falling into here, and Shu’s mind is eager to supply any number of them, but it does appear to be their friend who Natsume’s dragged out from the brine once she’s drawn close enough to get a good look at him. “Kanata? I know you can’t drown, you layabout. Why have you called us here?”
Kanata doesn’t respond at first, lying limply across Natsume’s lap (which Shu is sure he’s enjoying, if he’s aware of it) with his lower half still partially submerged in the water. Natsume’s more gentle coaxing elicits a similar response, and it’s not until Shu reaches out to grab at his hair and force him to look up at them that he manages an answer, in the form of a long, overexaggerated groan. “Shu, be gentle.”
“I will, if you speak when you’re spoken to.” She says, releasing her hold on him.
Kanata grumbles, wrapping his arms around Natsume’s waist like a child clinging to a beloved doll. “Do you ‘promise’?”
“Do I— I don’t have time for this! You are well aware of how much it pains me to cross the border to come to this place, wretched as it is—”
“Shu-neesan,” Natsume looks to her, expression pleading. “This is Kanata-niisan’s territory. It’s one of the safest places in the human world we could be.”
“It’s just like Nacchan says,” Kanata agrees. “This place is my ‘domain’. My ‘friends’ are safe here.”
Despite the assurances, unease nags at Shu. She gives the cavern a final once over, shaking her head with a sigh when she finally faces Kanata again, unable to find signs of covert danger lurking nearby. “I promise to discuss this civilly with you. Now, would you care to begin your explanation?”
It’s clear that assurance pleases Kanata, the edges of his mouth curling up into a satisfied smile. A better sight than his impression of flotsam, Shu must admit.
“It is normal for me to come here every few years. The humans from the nearby village will send a ‘priestess’ or a ‘priest’, I think, but no one’s come, and that means I cannot leave.”
“Why not? There’s no way a human ceremony could physically trap you here, is there?” Natsume asks. It’s a fair question— other than the concealed entrance, Shu senses no powerful magic, let alone what would be needed to constrain a being on the level of their friend.
“I am not being ‘kept’ here by anything, besides my own nature, ah … this is difficult to ‘explain’.” With a little grumble, Kanata pushes himself up and rolls onto his side, off of Natsume. “If I do not take care of the ‘needs’ of my body, it will begin to become troublesome, you know?”
Natsume sends a questioning glance Shu’s way, but she’s just as befuddled. She and Kanata are certainly closer in genus type, technically two very different types of serpents, but nothing Kanata’s said points to a biological imperative she’s familiar with. Sea dragons are known to have some bizarre customs, compared to their sky-bound brethren. She can only assume this must be one of those curious traits.
“I cannot say I do, my friend,” Shu says. “If you’ve been wounded in some way, I am not particularly adept in healing. That has always been your specialty between the two of us.”
“No, no, it is not like that.” Kanata shakes his head, the damps strands of his hair flicking droplets of water onto the dark silk of Natsume’s robe. “It will be easier to ‘show’ you. Look here.”
He extends one arm out toward the water, drawing Shu’s attention to the way the surface has begun to tremble and churn from activity. She hadn’t spent too long on assessing it before, noting that something beneath it was the source of light in the cavern and not much else. Looking at it now, she realizes that what she took for pale sand creating the seabed beneath the weeds is something else— something that’s curled around the platform they’re all occupying and that’s now rapidly winding upward, disturbing the kelp like a cold wind blowing through a deep forest.
Shu has never seen Kanata’s other form, not in person, but Wataru and Rei have described it to her well enough. A pale blue, opalescent color, with scales tiny enough to be mistaken for a blanket of gems, possessing no proper limbs, but adorned with a frilled spine and fanned fins, the same shade as the sky after a summer rain. The long, snakelike body that she can see moving through the water now matches the exact description attributed to the Shinkai line, but Kanata is barely an arm’s length away from her, and she senses no one else besides the three of them in the chamber.
“Do you see? This part of my body won’t ‘return’ to me until it’s finished, and I cannot just ‘leave’ it here alone,” Kanata says, turning back to face the two of them. “I have tried to ‘satisfy’ it on my own, but it doesn’t work without a ‘partner’.”
That phrasing makes Shu pause again, another reminder of a forgotten conversation that’s relevant to this place and Kanata’s reason for being here, but when she tries to think on it, her mind feels— strange. Sluggish, as if she’s allowed one of her friends to coax her into having a second or third drink at a festival. Her thoughts have all become oddly detached, wandering off to memories of balmy nights spent in Rei’s domain, the days-long celebrations of the underworld where he plies his guests with food and drink and the more carnal affections he so loves to indulge. It’s a horribly uncouth affair, far from the sort of events Shu never admits to enjoying, though her mind now seems stuck on certain … indiscretions she’s allowed herself while present.
“But, now that Nacchan and Shu are here, that won’t be any more problems,” Kanata’s dour frown smooths out, returning his face to its usual serene visage. “You’ll be happy to ‘help’, won’t you, Nacchan?”
“Kanata-niisan?” Natsume sounds as though she’s not quite sure what she’s being asked, and Shu isn’t either, not until it’s too late.
Shu watches in slow motion as Kanata leans forward, back into Natsume’s space, one of his hands lifting to gently cradle the back of her head, keeping her in place as he seals their lips together. Natsume is frozen in place, too shocked to react as Kanata moves to deepen the kiss, pressing in to allow something viscous and wet to pass from his mouth into hers. Whatever it is, she tries to jerk away from it, and her strangled noise of distaste is what jolts Shu back into motion, the fog in her head clearing for just long enough to cry out.
“Kanata, what are you— cease that this instant!” There’s more she intends to say as she lunges forward to push him off Natsume, but she’s bowled over before she can get it out. It takes a concerning lack of force to send her sprawling to the ground, the thick layers of kelp covering the rock cushioning her fall as she lands flat on her back, the cave ceiling spinning above her.
“Nacchan isn’t ‘receptive’ to this place like you are, Shu,” she still can’t see what it was that pushed her over, but she can feel it wrapping around her ankle and snaking up, against her bare skin, wet and smoother than the finest silk she keeps in her vaults. “I’m just making her more ‘comfortable’.”
She kicks at the foreign appendage when it reaches her lower thigh, her skin tingling where it’s left a damp trail against her leg. Her instincts are too slow, weighted down by a force that keeps her even being able to sit up properly without floundering onto her side, facing her back in the direction of Kanata and Natsume.
“Shu, be ‘patient’,” Kanata sighs, unwrapping his arms from around the girl as more and more tentacles slide out from the water to take his place. “I will get to you.”
Shu can only stare as Natsume, her pupils blown wide and dark, allows the tendrils to gradually coil around her limbs. She’s in a daze from whatever it is Kanata fed to her, her hands going as far as to grab at them where they come into contact with her, but doing no more than that, seemingly frozen as they press on, uninterrupted in their exploration of her body. One slips easily beneath the space where her robes are folded over just beneath the hollow of her throat, pulling the fabric down and away to expose her shoulder, then lower, revealing the slightest curve of her breast and a pink, pert nipple.
Natsume’s small frame has always been something Shu’s found herself envious of, her body remaining so delicately petite as she’s matured, almost doll-like, tailormade to appeal to Shu’s very particular aesthetics. It makes the sight of her being gradually undressed and fondled strangely enticing, the little noise that’s pulled from her mouth when a spindly tendril wraps around her nipple and gently tugs at it sounding impossibly sweeter than it has any right to be.
“You are staring, Shu.”
Kanata’s by her side now, and it’s alarming that she’s not wholly sure how long he’s been there. Her head snaps in his direction, the casual mirth on his face jolting Shu back to the present, indignation reigniting in her belly.
“You, you cretin,” She hisses, smacking his hand away with a clumsy strike when he tries to reach out to her. “You brought us here on purpose, to your spawning ground.”
It’s not until she says it aloud that it all begins to click into place. Shu knows little about the breeding habits of the water-dwelling subspecies of her kind, but it doesn’t take much for her to see how this place would lend itself to it, and given Kanata’s earlier comment, she has a suspicion that the haze she’s found overtaking her is another one of its features.
“I had to ask someone to come,” Kanata looks down at her like a scolded puppy, regretful of his transgressions, but all too willing to repeat them. “The humans never arrived, and I’ve been waiting a long time.”
“There are,” the tentacle is still trying to move up her thigh all the while, stubbornly resisting her attempts to shake it off. “Alternative options to this.”
“It’s not ‘good’ for you to put it off for so long,” Kanata replies, his brow furrowing. “Making your body wait with ‘spells’ and tricks … Shu can be very strange about our natural ‘urges’.”
As if to prove his point, the tentacle darts up between her legs, its length rubbing against her crotch. She can’t catch herself before her hips buck up into the contact, seeking more friction, and Kanata’s stormy expression giving way to a self-satisfied smile that makes her cheeks burn even hotter for it. “See? You like it. You’ll like it better after we do more. ‘Dragons’ are like that, aren’t they?”
Shu doesn’t immediately grasp what he’s implying, especially not when the tentacle repeats the motion again, setting the air in her lungs aflame. The mating rituals among their kith are notoriously harsh, fueled by bloodlust as much as the more mundane kinds of carnal desire, and Shu has heard the old wives’ tales that are passed around about how some females will only settle down after they’ve been made to submit, forcefully bred until their tempers fade and their more amenable traits are brought to the forefront—
A second tentacle sliding with wicked intent against her waist, angling to slip beneath her obi, derails her train of thought. When she raises a hand to try and slap it away, she finds both of her wrists caught and pinned above her head instead, Kanata having already foreseen that reaction. “Shu does not always need to be so ‘dishonest’,” he says. “There is no reason for you to ‘pretend’ among ‘friends’.”
Her sash is pulled open, inviting several more tentacles to emerge from the water and swarm greedily around her. They curl to slip beneath the cloth of her robes, peeling back layers until her skin is bared from neck to navel, her naked body on full display. She tells herself that it’s the magic in this place that’s making the teasing strokes against her breasts and stomach feel so pleasingly charged, the heat that’s been building low in her belly momentarily ignored as the strange, slender limbs move their attentions elsewhere.
The petting is pleasant, almost, if she puts everything else aside, and nowhere near as satisfying as what they had been so brazenly doing just a few moments before. Encircling and squeezing her breasts comes close, and she can’t keep entirely silent when they purposefully flick and pull at her nipples, but that only sharpens the ache. She’s sure now that the wetness she feels on her thighs isn’t solely from the moisture of the cave, though she’d rather die than admit as much.
“Shu is so ‘soft’ here,” Kanata sighs as the appendages attentively fondle her chest. “I know you get embarrassed when people notice, but it really is nice.”
“Spare me your vulgar flattery,” Shu snaps, kicking weakly at the new tentacle attempting to restrain one of her legs. “If you think I’ll simply allow you to have your way with me—”
Her words stall and die on her tongue as a newly revealed appendage brushes against the inside of her thigh, moving steadily upward. While most of its length is as smooth and featureless as the others Kanata has sent at her, its tip is shaped differently, flattened wide like a fin. When it presses up against the seam between her pelvis and the top of her leg, she can feel the multitude of raised nubs clustered on one side. It moves steadily, undeterred by her attempts to dislodge it, eventually nestling itself against her folds and beginning to rub over her sensitive skin. The strange texture should be off-putting, but when it drags over her clit, Shu can only gasp and shudder.
She can hear Kanata’s breath hitch above her as the thing strokes at her, as if he was doing the touching himself. Perhaps he is, in a manner of speaking— Shu’s not entirely clear on the details, and can’t muster the energy to care, not when the sensations it’s drawing out of her are so intoxicating. Static sparks dance along her nerves, enticing her to move her hips along with it, her basest desires telling her to seek out more.
Shu isn’t one to indulge in such wanton acts, not with others or on her own. They served no purpose and made no meaningful contribution to her pursuits of beauty or power, the purest definition of time wasted. What pleasures they might grant are fleeting, inconsequential, and she has rarely allowed herself to be led astray.
When the textured side of Kanata’s tentacle drags against her, sending another wave of desire roiling through her body, she thinks, perhaps, she may be able to understand the appeal.
“Shu, I really … ah, can’t wait any longer.” Kanata’s voice sounds closer than before. Her eyelids flutter as her clouded vision refocuses, his previously blurred outline becoming clear above her. She can’t guess what he could mean, not when he already has her half-undressed and at his mercy, but the answer comes soon enough.
Yet another long appendage is slithering up to join the rest of them, and Shu can’t be bothered to try and guess at what it might be after until she can feel it positioning itself at her slick entrance, replacing the one that was touching her just a moment before. It’s thick, the end of it shaped more like a cock than the others (not that Shu is especially knowledgeable when it comes to such crude anatomy, of course), with a defined head and slit at the tip. The very sight of it is enough to— disgust her, yes, that’s definitely her first reaction, the warmth flaring in her chest entirely coincidental. She means to move in retaliation, attempt to kick it away, at least, but she’s not quick enough. It penetrates her with a steady push forward, sinking steadily into the molten heat of her, all of Shu’s senses muddying into an inelegant cacophony of noise as she trembles and tries to adjust.
Succeeding is another matter entirely. It feels like the thing keeps pushing in, deeper and deeper, giving her no time to catch her breath. The drag of it is maddening, eliciting bitten-off moans and a tight curling of her fingers into the soft bed of weeds beneath her. She barely notices that Kanata is no longer restraining her when the tentacle shifts its angle and rubs up against … something that steals all the air from her lungs, her thighs shaking as a jolt of electric pleasure rips through her, forcefully bringing her to orgasm.
She gasps for breath while the cavern spins around her, too shocked for a quick recovery. It’s no help that the damned tentacle is still buried deep, motionless for the moment, but remaining an ever-present threat.
“Shuuu,” Kanata’s voice sounds far away, though it can’t be, his cool hand carefully stroking the side of her face. “It feels ‘good’, doesn’t it? Don’t you want to feel more?”
“That is— not my concern, Kanata.”
Quite suddenly, she finds his face hovering just inches above her own. He must’ve moved while she was preoccupied, as he’s laying down at her side now, close enough to comfortably touch her. “You worry too much about unimportant things,” he frowns, his hand trailing lower, over her neck, then her collarbone. “I don’t mind when you’re honest, even when it’s ‘cruel’. But it’s easy to tell when you’re lying.”
The flat of his palm continues to move down, a sinuous touch that finally stops below the curve of her stomach, his fingers spreading out against her sweat-stained skin. “Even when you try to ‘trick’ people with your words, your body tells the truth.”
Inside of her, Shu can feel the tentacle begin to draw back, far enough to give her the briefest hope it might be pulling out— only for it to thrust back in a moment later, sending her reeling. She’s too oversensitive to fight back the moan it pulls from her, nor the others that follow once it begins to repeat the motion, quickly establishing a rhythm that all of Shu’s instincts desperately urge her to go along with. She despises every flawed aspect of her biology telling her to accept this, the disgusting sensation of being split open by the extension of another powerful beast, as if she would ever allow herself to be debased in such a way under normal circumstances.
Her own revulsion (and nothing else, of course, all thoughts indicating otherwise surely a trick of Kanata’s magic) is too distracting, attention fixated on the reactions the tentacle draws out of her rather than the thing itself, and by the time she notices the minor variances in its girth, it’s too late. Only when she feels herself being spread open just the slightest fraction more, enough to accommodate the small knots that have appeared within its length, does Shu remember just who she’s been caught by.
“Kanata—” he bites her before she can finish her thought, blunt teeth sinking into the pillowy flesh of her breast. At the same moment, the tentacle thrusts up again, pushing the first bulge into her. Shu sucks in a breath, anticipating discomfort, but her body defies her once again, wracked with pleasure as Kanata’s egg moves through the tentacle length as she’s fucked by it, moving deeper and deeper. Even when it finally comes loose, nestled securely in the place where it will be warm and safe and able to freely gorge on Shu’s magic, there’s no chance of relief.
“With this much, you’re barely ‘full’ at all,” Kanata murmurs, exhaling softly against the mark he’s left. “Shu can definitely take more. It should be easy for you.”
Shu has several things she could say to that, several things she should say, but when she opens her mouth to reply, she can’t manage any of them— not when she can already feel a second egg pressing at her entrance. When the tentacle rocks into her, sliding the egg in with it, she can’t help how she follows the movement with her hips, almost coaxing it along. It’s not her intent, in no universe does she want to tremble and shudder and be burdened with the knowledge of how eagerly her body accepts this kind of treatment. She wants to turn away, to squeeze her eyes shut and banish the image from her mind, but then Kanata shifts his weight onto his palm, pushing down against where the first one lies inside of her, and it’s too much— like he’s given her a brand-new weak spot, just by managing to plant his roe there.
She comes again when the second one joins it, her back arching up off the bed of weeds as heady, white-hot lightning tears through her senses. Her throat is dry and her chest heaves, struggling for air, and it still isn’t over. Kanata hums something low and hungry, a note meant to signal Shu’s most primal instincts, as if their ancient codes of conduct matter a whit in this situation. Though she never admits it aloud, Shu does know when she’s beat, and when the defeat tastes as sweet as this, the length buried inside her tensing once again as it readies its next delivery—
Shu allows herself to succumb. For a time.
When she finally manages to regain some sense of greater awareness, Kanata is languid at her side, his tentacle finally slipping free. There’s a strange moment where she can’t quite place what’s off about the scene before her, how she came to be there, or why she had seemed so insistent on resisting it when she first arrived. Surely there had been something, some factor that’s fallen to the wayside, that made her attempt to reject the inevitable.
A rush of hormones race through her bloodstream, altering her brain chemistry to rearrange her outlook of recent events into a more palatable scene. Shu’s eyes narrow as she stares up at the cavern ceiling, still trying to recall the vital piece of information she’s misplaced about the situation at hand. Her ponderings are interrupted— by a yelp off to the side, punctuated with the roar of magical fire brought forth from the air, and panic seizes her all over again when she remembers just what it is she’s forgotten.
“You dolt,” she snaps, shoving Kanata’s head off where’s pillowed it on her chest. “Do you have a single intelligent thought in that thick skull of yours?!”
“Eh? What’s ‘wrong’—"
She huffs, pushing herself up into a sitting position which, oh, is certainly different when she’s full like this. Glancing down, she can see the barest hint of an unseemly curve beneath her navel where there certainly wasn’t one before. It’s not uncomfortable, no more than if she’s overindulged at a banquet, and when she shifts her weight a certain way and feels them shift within her— she shakes her head, banishing the thoughts and ignoring the heat pulsing between her legs. She can deal with it later, after the issue at hand has been properly addressed.
Across the platform, Natsume squirms and struggles against the tentacles pinning her down, her eyes bright with alarm. Of course Kanata’s venom would’ve worn off for her by this point— she’s neither of draconic blood and attuned to such substances, nor human and especially weak to them. She can be nothing but confused and frightened as the strange appendages attempt to force her to compliance and Shu is having none of it, not for Natsume.
“Non, you cannot simply manhandle her however you like, Kanata, she is delicate,” Shu says. “This is an utterly unacceptable state of affairs.”
Kanata blinks at her like the large, dumb animal he fools others into believing he is, his head tilting slightly to one side. “Shu … ? What do you mean?”
“It’s obvious you’re incapable of caring for her properly,” she scoffs, turning her nose up. “Bring her here— I’ll show you how to deal with softer creatures, since you’re clearly inept.”
Given the way he continues to stare at her, she wonders if he hit his head at some point during their earlier struggle. “Am I not making myself clear? Give her to me, or I’ll make sure the rest of your clutch goes to waste.”
His eyes dart over to Natsume, then back to her, his expression making a few rapid changes before it finally settles back into a familiar, understated pout. “Shu is ‘mean’ even when she’s broody. It’s not fair,” is what he says, though there’s an eagerness underlying his actions as he gestures with a flick of his wrist, commanding the tentacles to redirect their efforts.
Natsume yelps again as she’s lifted and carried through the air to be deposited in Shu’s lap, the majority of the tentacles retreating back into the water once Shu levels Kanata with another warning glare. “You will wait until I’ve decided she’s ready.”
“Shu-neesan?” The slight waver in her voice is enough to make Shu bristle all over again— really, where did Kanata get off thinking he could treat their precious child like some common human offering? She sighs instead, one arm curling around Natsume’s back to pull her close. It makes sense now why she’d been so irritable at first, with her concern for Natsume making her especially dismissive to Kanata’s advances. He had no choice but to become more aggressive to win her over. Her hormone-altered thinking neatly ties the scene together, leaving her free to move forward.
“Yes, I’m here. Are you all right? Kanata will behave himself henceforth, girl, there’s no need for you to worry.” She says, brushing the hair out of Natsume’s face with her free hand. This close, Shu can see her gaze is still hazy and unfocused, meaning Kanata’s magic wasn’t as completely ineffective as she initially assessed. What a mess he’s left her with— she’ll need to inspect her carefully going forward, to ensure there’s nothing else she’s missed.
“I’m … fine, my head is a little …” Her words trail off as Shu moves her hand down, along the column of Natsume’s neck to the slender jut of her collarbone. Shu makes sure to keep her touch light and gentle, as it should be. Natsume is their treasure, pampered and jealously guarded since she first came into the care of the four great lords. Perhaps Kanata’s rut makes it easy for him to forget that this is their beloved child, or perhaps it simply realigns his priorities. Natsume has grown into a rather lovely demon, Shu must admit, a prize any number of powerful creatures would kill to have in their grasp.
“Shu-neesan, you’re really, um,” Natsume’s eyes move in a slowly repeating cycle between Shu’s face and the rest of her, the blotchy red blush smattered across her cheeks growing deeper as she registers her ‘older sister’s’ current state of undress. “You’re sure you’re feeling well?”
“As well as one can hope, given the situation,” Shu says, dragging her fingertips lower. Natsume’s breasts are small, made to fit perfectly in the palm of Shu’s hand, and while the pale expanse of her skin is acceptably unmarred, Shu notes the dusky shade of her nipples, already thoroughly abused by Kanata’s tentacles. Shu finds herself moving to rub her thumb over the one closest to her before she can think better of it, watching intently as Natsume’s eyes flutter and her thighs tense. “Is this too much? Be clear when you answer, girl.”
Natsume whines and repeats her name, but does nothing to stop her. She’s overwhelmed, the poor thing, clearly out of her depth. It’s a blessing Kanata caught them together, to be sure— this will be a much kinder mating with Shu here to look after her.
She can sense the impatience emanating from Kanata where he kneels off to the side, sulking in a manner unbefitting a dragon of his stature, but pays him no mind. Natsume hasn’t given her a proper answer yet, and Shu is rather keen to hear the sweet lilt of her voice. Cupping her breast in her hand, she rolls Natsume’s nipple between two fingers, pinching it slightly as she does, just enough to make Natsume’s breath catch as she squirms in her arms.
“It’s, it feels more sensitive than usual,” she stumbles clumsily over her words, her eyes dark and clouded.
“Do you want me to stop?” Shu asks. Natsume flushes and purses her mouth rather than respond immediately, casting her gaze to the side. “I told you to speak clearly. You know I don’t enjoy being made to repeat myself.”
“If … if it’s you, Shu-neesan, I don’t mind, it’s just,” Natsume says, face burning. “Isn’t this whole situation a little strange?”
“What do consider strange about it? You do know men will resort to any number of tricks to secure themselves a mate, don’t you?” Shu sighs, shaking her head. “Surely I haven’t been so remiss in your education that I’ve led to believe otherwise?”
“No, I know that, but—”
Shu’s hand is already moving down, over Natsume’s ribs and the velvet-soft skin of her stomach, dipping in between her thighs to delicately swipe her fingers through the sticky mess of clear liquid left by the tentacles. Natsume falls silent when Shu slips carefully between her folds, only to whine softly a moment later when Shu’s touch glances against her clit.
“Have you nothing else to say now?”
Natsume’s eyes squeeze shut, her expression utterly mortified, and for a moment Shu thinks she might attempt another go at resistance, until she haltingly speaks again.
“If we’re going to do be doing this sort of thing, then, I want to touch Shu-neesan too.”
For whatever reason, it’s not the statement Shu was expecting, though she softens at hearing it all the same. “You can touch me however you like, dear girl,” she says, rubbing her fingers against Natsume again to send a shiver running through her body. “There’s no need for you to ask permission when we’re already this close.”
She leans in when Natsume reaches out, a hand tangling clumsily in the silken strands of Shu’s long hair to tug her gently down, her eyes still closed when she cranes her head up to press their lips together. It’s enough to make Shu’s heart ache, an adorably innocent gesture in the midst of such a debauched scene. Drawing her closer, Shu presses another kiss to her mouth, then another, repeating the motion with all the patience she can muster until she feels Natsume begin to relax in her arms, her hips gradually beginning to move with Shu’s hand, seeking the stimulation more contact might bring.
It’s not long before Shu’s able to slip a finger into her, drawing out a high, wavering note from Natsume’s throat. Given how tight she is, Shu doubts Kanata managed to penetrate her after he’d separated the two of them earlier. “Don’t fight it,” she chides softly, using her thumb to tease her clit as she presses a second finger to her entrance. “You’ll need to be loose when Kanata takes you.”
“Shuuu,” on cue, the third member of their party interjects. “I have been ‘good’ and waited. You can’t keep hogging Nacchan all to yourself.”
Shu’s gaze turn sharp and cold as she turns her attention to the other dragon. She ducks her head, nipping lightly at Natsume’s pale neck as she slides in her readied finger in to join the first, a sense of hungry satisfaction coiling in her chest when the girl cries out. “And I have a mind to keep her, if you’re going to behave like a glutton. She won’t be able to take as many as one of our kind, you know. You’ll be lucky if I allow you more than two.”
“Shu, you’re being ‘unfair’ again.” Kanata huffs, the tentacles resting at the water’s edge moving in agitated patterns, but he makes no move to advance on her. Shu’s concern is only natural, and he’d be a fool to test her like this— between the eggs in her womb and the kit in her arms, she’s like to tear the head off any male she deems a threat.
“You have no one to blame for the situation but yourself, my friend,” she replies, sighing wearily before she relents. “Come on, then. Hold her while I make sure your disgusting limbs don’t overstep their bounds again.”
A “don’t call them ‘disgusting’,” is muttered petulantly under Kanata’s breath as he shuffles forward, holding out his arms. Shu withdraws her fingers, soothing the plaintive little cry from Natsume with a series of kisses. Once she’s calm and sated again, Shu carefully maneuvers her into Kanata’s lap, Natsume’s side leaning against his chest as he cradles her.
From the water one of the thicker, more defined tentacles he’d used on Shu earlier slithers forward. Without preamble, Shu reaches out to grab hold of it once it's in reach, eliciting a little start from Kanata that has her raising an eyebrow.
“I told you those are a part of my body, when you touch them—"
“You feel it as well, yes, I suspected as much.” She says, running her thumb over the wide cleft at the tip and watching as Kanata huffs out a warm breath of air, his cheeks coloring.
“You are being a ‘tease’, Shu.” He grumbles.
“I am doing no such thing.” She adjusts her grip on the tentacle as she places her other hand back on Natsume, turning her attention back to the girl. “This will feel strange at first, but I won’t let it hurt you.” Shu’s fingers dip between her folds again, spreading her pussy as she guides the thick tendril to her entrance. “Keep your legs open, now, just like that.”
Natsume’s eyes fall shut again as she complies, her breath stuttering when the tentacle begins to press against her. “Shu-neesan, it’s not going to fit.”
“It will,” she assures her, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. “You were made for this, girl. Once it’s inside, your body will know what to do.”
“Mm, kitsune don’t usually ‘carry’ our young, but Shu’s right,” Kanata adds, nosing affectionately at Natsume’s hair. “My ‘eggs’ are ‘special’. You’ll feel it soon, Nacchan, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“I, I don’t know, it feels, aah—” Her brow furrows and her back arches as the head begins to breach her, sliding against Shu’s fingers where they’re still positioned to keep her open.
Shu releases her hold on the tentacle as it sinks further and further in, moving at a carefully controlled pace she suspects is meant to assuage her worries. It’s not long before its length is fully sheathed inside of her, Natsume’s hips and thighs trembling while her chest heaves, gasping for breath as though there’s no room left in her for air.
“There, all in~ Nacchan’s doing so well,” Kanata’s voice is soft and honey-sweet, but from this position Shu can see the darkness in his eyes, the tension in his shoulders, tells betraying the lust he holds at simmer just beneath the surface. “’Good’ girl, ‘good’ girl. I can start filling you up now.”
Despite her distaste for such base activities, Shu can’t deny there’s something satisfying in being able to watch Natsume come apart as the tentacle begins to fuck into her, sweat beading on her skin while she writhes and tries to muffle her cries. She can’t help but duck down to claim her lips again, kissing her with less measured precision this time, allowing her tongue to slip into her mouth when it falls open after a particularly hard thrust.
With the one hand lingering between Natsume’s legs, she can feel it when the first egg appears, seeming even larger than when she’d taken them herself. Natsume makes a startled little noise that quickly transforms into something high and teetering on the edge of pained, and Shu can only purr in sympathy, moving to tease her clit again to distract her from the momentary discomfort as it’s forced inside.
“It’s just a little more, Nacchan, your body will start 'liking' it soon,” Kanata says, more and more intensity slipping into his serene tone.
He’s not wrong, at least. Once it’s entered her, Shu can sense Natsume’s mounting pleasure begin to overwhelm her, the twitches of her hips becoming faster and more fevered the deeper the tentacle pushes it, practically panting into Shu’s mouth by the time it’s been firmly planted inside her. All it takes is a few more unrelenting thrusts before her thighs tremble and shake as she’s brought to orgasm, warm wetness leaking out of her onto Shu’s hand and Kanata’s tendril.
Shu can smell it on the air as Natsume’s delicate herbal scent turns darker, ripe and heady. As Kanata said, kitsune aren’t meant to carry eggs, but they’re well known for their adaptive natures, capable of breeding fruitfully with all manner of demons and spirits. A hot blush spreads across her body as the magic laden in Kanata’s egg and secretions overtakes her senses, quickly leaving her lax and pliable between the two of them, ready to take whatever else they might have to give her.
“There, all better,” Kanata says, clearly pleased with himself as he moves a hand to toy with one of Natsume’s newly stiffened nipples. “I bet you can 'fit' lots more like this, Nacchan~”
“Non, don’t get carried away,” Shu chides. “I’ll stop you myself if it comes to that.”
“I did not mean it so seriously,” he sighs, acting put-upon. “I won’t do too much and make you angry, I ‘promise’.”
As much as she’d like to reiterate her point, Natsume is pawing at her, demanding attention like the spoiled princess Shu must begrudgingly admit she is, and as always, Shu finds herself bending to her whims. She lets herself be drawn in close, and when Natsume barely flinches at the second egg drawing near, Shu allows her hands and attention to wander.
Natsume is warm and eager with the deluge of magic running through her, arching up into their touches shamelessly as she moans and gasps. She comes again when the next egg spreads her open, Shu’s fairly sure, oversensitive enough that all it takes is the right twist of Kanata’s tentacle against a certain spot to send her spiraling out, mewling into Kanata’s chest while Shu strokes her hips and bites delicately at her nipple.
Kanata does willfully withdraw once the second is safely in place, though it does take a pointed look from Shu to prompt him to action. “Fine, that’s enough for Nacchan, but we are not 'done' yet.”
“No?” Shu responds, unimpressed.
“There is one last part, and then we will be all done,” Kanata smiles, lowering Natsume down to the seaweed-strewn ground. “Shu, you should lay down with Nacchan. You will both be feeling ‘tired’ soon.”
“I don’t feel that tired, actually, Kanata-niisan.” Natsume blinks up at them curiously.
“That’s because your ‘eggs’ are the same as the kind I give to the humans,” he says, reaching out to settle a hand on Shu’s waist. “They will make you feel ‘nice’, but then they will fall out, and that is all. It is enough to ‘satisfy’ my body, but …”
He trails his touch to the center of her stomach, then lower, stopping over the place where the eggs lie inside of her and she suddenly feels— very much like she should listen to whatever it is Kanata says, a wave of heat rolling over her that leaves her weak and lightheaded. “Shu and Nacchan are really ‘strong’. If I make these ‘fertile’, you’ll give me ‘strong’ offspring. I would be foolish not to take the ‘chance’.”
“Ah,” Shu replies, her will to protest brought to an all-time low. “I see.” What Kanata’s saying is true, after all. She and Natsume are both exquisitely powerful creatures with impeccable bloodlines, the crème de la crème of otherworldly maidens. There’s some small part of her that momentarily resists, reminding her that she should find a reason to object to Kanata’s designs, but when she attempts to recall the exact rationale for it— Kanata’s hand presses gently against her, more numbing warmth blooming from their point of contact, and she forgets everything but the desire to be bred thoroughly.
“Wait, Kanata-niisan, are you serious?” Natsume, on the other hand, seems alarmed again. “I’m all right with this much, but I don’t know about—”
Shu silences her with a firm kiss, ducking her head as she moves to position herself over her, straddling her waist and kneeling down. No doubt her nerves have gotten the better of her, too inexperienced to understand the long-term benefits of acting as a vessel for the young of a dragon so close to divinity. She can already feel Natsume’s resistance fading as she presses their bodies together, purring low in her throat to send soothing vibrations thrumming into her chest.
“It is all right, Nacchan, this won’t take ‘long’.” Kanata leans over Shu’s back, something hard and wet weighing against the small of her back. “I’ve been ‘excited’ for a while, after all.”
While she’s never found herself contemplating the shape of her friend’s dick, she can now say it seems to have more snaking curves and ridges than most— especially if it looks at all like the shape of the tentacle making its way around to slide teasingly up Natsume’s wet inner-thigh.
He gives them no further warning before he begins to penetrate them and gods, it’s entirely different from the experience before. Her body is primed for this, the eggs already inside of her radiating wave after wave of molten pleasure, forcing her hips to immediately push back to meet him, taking the full length of his cock with a single sharp thrust.
“Aah, you’ve gotten eager too, Shu?” He says, smug and breathless.
“Just, hurry up with it,” Shu snaps, unable to stop the waver in her voice, too lost to sensation.
She’s become completely, achingly full, each twitch of her muscles serving to remind her of how good it is to be used like this, Kanata’s cock and eggs filling her perfectly. Her attention is torn between demanding more and watching just how enraptured Natsume looks beneath her as she’s similarly split open, her delicious mewls like music to Shu’s ear. She looks exquisite, the profane allure of her ruined innocence straight out of a shunga print, and Shu knows she was right when she told her she was made for this.
It’s impossible to hold onto any coherent thought after that, her entire conscious stripped down to the primal need to be fucked and bred senseless. Her body moves on its own to swallow up Kanata’s cock again and again while her blunt nails rake hungrily over Natsume’s stomach and hips, dedicated to the pursuit of drawing out every noise she possibly can.
The fevered pitch of it is too desperate and unforgiving to last for long. When Kanata’s arms wrap around her waist and hold her there, she knows he’s close, his cock somehow feeling even hotter and larger inside of her, and all it takes is one last twist of her hips before he spills over, molten seed flowing inside of her to coat and cover the eggs.
It feels good and right, and when the clutch inside of her responds in kind with another, consuming burst of pleasure, it’s over— with a final orgasm wrung from her overwhelmed body, Shu collapses on top of Natsume, the waking world falling away.
She can’t say for certain how long she sleeps, or even at what point she notices the shift in the state of her brood. They devour her magic until sated, and then, one by one, leave the protective confines of her womb. Like a half-remembered lurid dream, she isn’t fully aware of what’s happening when her sleep is disturbed by the automatic undulation of her hips, pushing out the fully prepared eggs that no longer require her provided shelter. The scenario repeats itself until she’s empty and finally left to rest properly, her mind going truly and blissfully dark.
For a good while, at least. To her great misfortune, it doesn’t last.
“She is going to kill you, you know. Or do her very best in the attempt! It’s going to be a magnificent struggle, whatever the outcome— our Shu is a sight to behold when she’s possessed by righteous fury.”
“I told you, Wataru, I could not ‘help’ it.”
“I fear that argument won’t get you far when she wakes, Shinkai-kun … which appears to be close at hand. It may be best if I handle this, if we want to avoid decimating the entire coastline.”
As if she could sleep through such an obnoxiously noisy conversation going on right over her head. The world slowly comes back into focus as she blinks and squints, unsure what to make of the mossy cavern she’s awoken to. This certainly wasn’t her palace, and the color of the rock is entirely different than of the deep red stone found in her mountain domain. Why on earth had she seen fit to fall asleep in such a place?
“Itsuki-kun, good evening.” The velvet tones of Sakuma Rei greet her, another unexpected peculiarity to add to her growing pile. He’s seated at her side, his blood-red horns unhidden by any glamour, and has a strangely tense air about him. “How are you feeling?”
“Dreadful,” she answers before she can stop herself, every muscle in her body screaming in protest as she moves to sit upright. “What are you doing here, Rei? I don’t recall your presence before—”
“Hibiki-kun and I have come to return you to our realm,” he speaks too quickly, moving to put a hand to her chest in order to hold up the dark robe draped across her body. “You’ve been drained of most of your magical vitae. It would be dangerous to linger here for too long.”
He’s right about her magic— she’s exhausted, running on near empty, something she’s rarely experienced in her long and storied life. What had she been battling here, in a seaside cave of the mortal realm, that could possibly tax her to such an extent?
“Come, we should be on our way.” Rei prompts again, and Shu isn’t entirely disregarding him, but a sense of confusion hangs heavy over her mind. She allows him to help her up, her own hand moving to hold the cloth wrapped around her as a makeshift cover, all the while puzzling over the strangeness of her current situation.
She has strength enough to walk at least, and as he ushers her towards the stairs, she takes a quick glance back at the rest of the cavern— to the edge of the natural platform, where Hibiki Wataru is crouched by the water, a figure bundled in his arms as he silently mouths to head of sea blue hair floating just above the surface—
Oh. Right.
“You, you shameless beast,” she all but shrieks, her ivory horns and tail flaring into view with a fiery burst of magic as she attempts to lunge back toward Kanata. Rei catches her around the waist before she can get far, aggravation clear in his features.
“I thought I told you to conceal yourself and our friends, Hibiki-kun.”
“Did you? Why, I think you did! My deepest apologies, Rei, but my desire to see Shu’s incandescent rage won out in the end!” Wataru chirps, his smile like a knife.
Shu twists and struggles, but Rei holds her steady with unparalleled ease. Under normal circumstances, they’re roughly on par with each other strength-wise, but its clear Kanata’s machinations have left her at a woeful disadvantage. “Let me, simply, maul him for a few moments, Rei—”
“Your anger is justified, my dear Empress, but if I allow you to run rampant in this state, you’ll do more harm to yourself than anyone else,” Rei sighs, shooting Wataru a disapproving look as he draws her back to him. “And it would be in poor taste to shed blood in front of our child like this, wouldn’t you agree?”
He pointedly tilts his head toward the pile tightly wrapped silks Wataru holds, or more accurately, the crimson head sporting pair of furry ears currently resting on his shoulder.
“If you think reminding me that he defiled her as well is going to quell my anger, Rei, you are sorely mistaken.” She all but spits.
“Nacchan ‘liked’ most of it,” Kanata bubbles sullenly from his place in the water. “You did too, Shu.”
“You have no place to speak for her, you degenerate!”
“There’s no reason for us to speculate at all, is there?” Wataru interjects, clearly enjoying this too much to be healthy. “Natsume-kun, what do you think? Should we allow Shu to flay poor Kanata down to the bone?”
In his arms, the girl wriggles and yawns, her sharp canines on full display for a brief moment before they’re hidden again behind a pair of deceptively plush lips. She squints up at Wataru, frowning a little before she finally speaks. “You’re not angry?”
The room falls silent as Wataru puzzles at her response. “Why would I be angry, Natsume-kun?”
“Because, you always said,” Natsume pauses to yawn again, her eyes falling shut. “If I was going to let someone breed me, you needed to teach me how to do it right … before I tried with anyone else.”
“Ah,” he says gravely. “Right, that.”
“Wataru,” Shu says, though she finds herself speaking with an echo that sounds suspiciously like Rei’s briefly slipped back in his old pattern of speech.
“You know, now that I’ve had time to think on it, Rei’s absolutely right! We should be going post-haste, lest Kanata’s carnal hunger returns, and he decides to make a mess of us all!” Wataru yells, standing up with a renewed sense of urgency.
“It is not ‘nice’ to say something like that if you do not mean it, Wataru.” Kanata mutters.
Shu groans, equal parts annoyed and exasperated. It was maddeningly difficult to maintain a murderous rage when she was exhausted and surrounded by idiots. “Take us home, Rei. I will dole out the appropriate punishments after I’ve recovered.”
“As my lady commands,” he nods, recollecting himself for long enough to summon a portal with a snap of his fingers. “I would like to think one of us here knows better than to anger you.”
“You anger me at every turn, Rei,” Shu shoots back, determined to make it known that she has not been appeased. “You simply know better than to be caught.”